Top 3 Dental Practice Mistakes that Can Cost You Your Career

We all make mistakes and there’s nothing wrong about it. However, it is important that we learn from it and improve ourselves in the future. Similarly, we also have to learn from the mistakes of others which can also help us to avoid falling into certain pitfalls that we might not be aware of. If you’re relatively new in the world of dentistry you can observe the ongoing trends and how dental professionals are coping with the rising competition and pushing their dental practice forward. Today, clinical knowledge alone cannot help you enhance your dental practice and therefore you need to learn from the common practice management and marketing mistakes that other dentists make.

Here we take a quick look at the top 3 dental practice mistakes that can cost you your career.

Short Term Marketing

Earlier marketing was never really on the agenda of dental professionals due to high patient demand and limited number of dentists available. However, the situation has reversed with more number of dentists battling to make their business from a smaller pool of active patients. In India, private dental colleges have mushroomed more quickly than government colleges leading to more dental professionals in urban areas than in rural areas. This rapidly increasing competition compels the dental professionals to invest continuously for marketing or else the competition will erode their sales. Many dentists focus on marketing only when they realize that their practices are showing signs of decline. They come up with hastily designed short term marketing plans which usually end up in disappointment, as these short term marketing plans cannot produce instant results.

To avoid this scenario, it is important for dentists to consistently market their practice, even when the sales figures are positive. Focus on long term marketing strategies and then break them down into shorter ones to achieve them step by step.

Limited Goals

There is a fine line between the success and failure of your dental practice which is defined by the goals you set. Most dental professionals set up a goal to start up their own practice by having their own clinic, but there are no plans beyond it. However, they’re not sure how they would push their practice further once they have their own clinic.

Growth cannot happen automatically and neither will it happen if you visit your clinic regularly and follow the same routine for years. Growth happens when you set yourself measurable and deadline-driven goals. It fires the motivation of the dentist to perform better, inspire the team and to bring more business to achieve the next set of goal in the list.

No Focus on Team Work

It takes a team work to make your dream work. Dental professionals often miss out on this part and focus mainly on their career growth. In the real world, if you have a dental practice of your own you need to work with your staff and team members to achieve business success. Hence, you have to become a leader who can motivate the staff and resolve all internal conflicts before it impacts the business. Professional misunderstandings and personal grudge can tear apart a strong and efficient team, if you do not focus on team work. To resolve this make sure that you hold team meetings to discuss immediate personal and professional issues and to propose practical solutions. Communication is the key to success and constant interaction with the team can help you to know more about the staff mindset and some real challenges that they might be facing. Team meetings can also help you to know more about professional problems that hinder your business growth, as your staff might share some of their experiences and ideas which can be implemented as and when required.

As a new age dental professional you need to understand that the business of dentistry continues to evolve and dental professionals need to continually evaluate and improve their business practices according to the changing demands of the market. While clinical knowledge does play an important role to boost your practice there are other factors that also need equal attention to help you climb the ladder of success.